But Christ snapped the fetters of his soul, and set him at liberty; Satan
lost his prey. “The Lion of the tribe of Judah” conquered the lion of
hell.
You know that in the British colonies, before the day of Wilberforce,
there used to be a great many slaves; but that good man began to agitate
the question of setting them free; and all the slaves in the colonies,
when they heard of it, were very anxious to hear how he was getting
along. They knew the bill was before Parliament, and with them it was a
question next to that of life itself.
But in those days there were no telegraphs and no steamships. The mails
went by the slow sailing vessels. They would be from six to eight months
in making the voyage to some of the more distant of the colonies. The
slaves used to watch for the white sails of British ships, hoping to hear
good reports, and also fearing they might hear bad ones.
There was a ship that had sailed immediately after the Emancipation
Act had been passed and signed by the king; and when she came within
hailing distance of the boats that had put off from the shore at the port
of her destination, the captain could not wait to deliver the message
officially, and have it duly promulgated by the government; but, seeing
the anxious men standing up in their boats, eager for the news, he placed
his trumpet to his mouth, and shouted with all his might:
“Free! Free!”
Just so the angels shouted when this poor bondman of Satan’s, almost
in the jaws of the pit, was taken in hand by the Savior Himself;
delivered from the bondage of darkness into the liberty of His dear Son!
Free--free from sin--free from the curse of the law--free, too, in a
short time, from the bonds of the flesh.
What a contrast! In the morning he is led out a condemned criminal; in
the evening he is saved from his sins. In the morning he is cursing;
in the evening he is singing hallelujahs with a choir of angels. In
the morning he is condemned by men as not fit to live on Earth; in the
evening he is reckoned good enough for Heaven.
Christ was not ashamed to walk arm-in-arm with him along the golden
pavements of the Eternal City.
He had heard the Savior’s cry: “It is finished.” He had seen the spear
thrust into His side. Jesus had died before his very eyes, and hastened
before him to get a place ready for this first soul brought from the
world after He had died.
You have heard of the child that did not like to die and go to
Heaven, because he did not know anybody there. But the thief had one
acquaintance--even the Master of the place. He calls to Gabriel, and says:
“Prepare a chariot; make haste! There is a friend of Mine hanging upon
that cross. They are breaking his legs; he soon will be ready to come.
Make haste and bring him to Me.”
And the angel in the chariot sweeps down the sky, takes up the soul of
the poor penitent thief, and hastens back again to glory; while the gates
of the city swing wide open, and the angels shout their welcome to this
poor sinner--“washed in the blood of the Lamb.”
And that, my friends, is just what Christ wants to do for every sinner.
He wants to save you. That is the business on which He came down from
Heaven. That is why He died; and if He gives such great and swift
salvation to this poor thief on the cross, surely He will give you the
same deliverance, if, like the penitent thief, you will repent, confess
and trust in the Savior.
Somebody says that this man “was saved at the eleventh hour.” I do not
know about that. Perhaps it was the first hour. It might have been the
first hour with him, I think. Perhaps he never knew Christ until he was
led out to die beside Him. This may have been the very first time he had
ever learned the way of faith in the Son of God.
But how many of you gave your hearts to Christ the very first time He
asked them of you? Are you not farther along in the day than even that
poor thief?
A little while ago, in one of the mining districts of England, a young
man attended one of our meetings, and refused to go from the place till
he had found peace in the Savior. The next day he went down into the pit,
and the coal fell in upon him; and when they took him out he was broken
and mangled, and had only about two or three minutes of life left in him.
His friends gathered about him, saw his lips moving, and, bending down
their ears to catch his words, this was what they heard him say: “It was
a good thing I settled it last night.”
* * * * *
Begin now to confess your sins, and to pray the Lord to remember you when
He cometh into His kingdom.